Automatic wrapper feeder



June 7, 1966 R. R. MILLER 3,254,885

AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEEDER Filed Dec. 26, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. q a RAY R. MILLER TTORNE YS June 7, 1966 R. R. MILLER AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEEDER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed DeO. 26, 1963 l 'I INVENTOR. -I RAY R. MILLER BY Z ?M,

ATTORNEYS June 7, 1966 R. R. MILLER 3,254,886

AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEEDER Filed DeC- 26. 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. RAY R. HILLER ATToRNfYS June 7, 1966 R. R. MILLER 3,254,886

AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEEDER Filed Dec. 26, 1965 4 .Sheets-SheetI 4 INVENTOR. RAY l?. MILLER ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office l t 3,254,886 Patented June 7, 1966 3,254,886 AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEEDER Ray R. Miller, Longview, Wash., assignor to Weyer-haeuser Company, Tacoma, Wash., a corporation of Washington Filed Dec. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 333,450 4 Claims. (Cl. 271-3) This invention relates to equipment for wrapping baled materials. It is particularly concerned with equipment which is designed to place suitable wrapper sheets in a folding position onto bales of pulp in an yautomatic foldersealer machine.

Although not necessarily limited thereto,l the present invention has been developed for use in association with the pulp bale wrapper folder-sealer machine disclosed and claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 333,- 405 filed concurrently herewith. In fact, a portion of the machine therein disclosed is illustrated in schematic form in the present application to show the manner in which the present invention can be associated with the folder-sealer invention.

In the past manual feeding of paper sheets was required if the sheets being fed were not of sufficient thickness and strength to -allow the use of a metering gate, such as that shown as element in the patent to Johnson et al. No. 2,996,862 issued August 22, 1961, to separate the sheet being fed from the sheets to be later fed.

Also manual feeding has been required whenever the sheets being fed were too porous to be fed individually by a vacuum pickup means. For example, the feeding mechanism presently used to feed pulp Wrapper sheets to a printing machine utilizes a pin clawing means to pick up each Apulp wrapper from a stack and place it in the printer.` Obviously pin claw feeding means damage the wrappers by producing scrape marks and punctures which provide openings for ingress of contaminates into the pulp package. Attempts to use a vacuum pickup means for the same feeding action have been unsuccessful because of the porous nature of the pulp wrapper. If suflicient vacuum is used to insure picking up at least one wrapper sheet, often times a second sheet will also be picked up. If the vacuum is reduced to insure that no additional sheets are picked up there is no assurance that even the top sheet will be picked up by the vacuum means.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a generally improved automatic pulp wrapper feeder.

Another object is to provide a wrapper feeder that will feed pulp sheets individually without injuring the surface of the sheets.

Another object is to provide a wrapper feeder which will feed sheets which are not thick enough or strong enough to be fed through a metering gate.

Additionally, an object of the invention is to provide a wrapper feeder which is manually loaded permitting accurate alignment of the wrapper sheets along one edge.

Still another object is to provide a wrapper feeder which will feed sheets which are too porous to be fed individually by a vacuum pickup means.

How the foregoing objects, together with such other objects as may appear hereinafter, or are incident to my invention, are obtained is illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made, however. in the construction and arrangement of parts in the machine and certain features may be used without the use of other features. All such modifications are intended to be within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is an elevation view, partly in section,

showing the over-all wrapper feeding machine and a schematic view of a typical automatic folding machine to illustrate the application of the present invention thereto,

'FIGURE 2 is a plan View of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation view of the wrapper feeding machine,

FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram of the drive means for the wrapper feeding machine,

FIGURE 5 is a schematic showing of a typical placement of wrapper sheets in the wrapper feeding machine.

Referring now to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the invention is shown embodied in a paper feeder having a frame 1 for supporting and feeding a wrapper sheet 10 a-nd consisting of fonward upstanding members 11, rearward upstanding members 1-2, .table top 13, table guide 14, and supports 15 placed Wherever necessary for rigidity. Mounted on frame 1 is front nip roll 20 supported by front nip roll axle 211 which is adjustably mounted on forward u/pstandin-g members 11 by adjustable spring I loaded supports 22. Also supported on front nip roll axle 21 is rear nip roll frame 29 which supports rear nip roll by means of rear nip roll axle 31 and bearings 312. Rear nip roll frame positioning motor is piyotally mounted at its piston end 41 at pivot 42 which is secured to rear nip roll frame cross support 43 which in turn is secured at each end to rear nip roll frame 29. Motor 40 is pivotally supported at its cylinder end 44 at pivot 45 which is secured to upper frame cross support 16 which in turn is secured at each end to forward upstanding frame members 11.

Rear nip roll frame positioning motor 40 is double act- 'ing and is controlled by air motor manual control valve which has leading to it; an air supply line 51 and from f it, an air exhaust line 52, a forward air conduit 53 which leads to the forward end of cylinder 44 and a rearward air conduit 54 which leads to the rearward end of cylinder 44.

Mounted below rear nip roll 30 is rear drive roll 60 having a surface 61 and an axle 62 which is mounted in bearings 63 which are secured to the table top 13. Mounted at one end of axle 62 is a sprocket 64 which supports low-speed drive chain 65 which is also supported by overrunning clutch 66 mounted on forward drive roll axle 72.

Mounted below front nip roll 20 is forward drive roll 70 having a surface 71 which is supported by axle 72 through bearing support 73 which is also secured to table top 13. Limit switch LS-W is mounted upon upright member 11 just forward of the front nip roll 20.

As shown in FIGURES l and 2 automatic folder 100, having a folder bed 101 which supports a bale B, is located forward of the automatic feeder frame 1 and has a wrapper backstopl 102 which supports a wrapper backstop limit switch LS-E, shown in the deflected position due to the presence of top wrapper sheet 10. Bale folder 100 also supports a bale conveyor limit switch LS-A, which indicates when actuated that the bale B is in position on the folder 100 to receive a top wrapper sheet 10.

A suitable drive means for the automatic feeder is shown in FIGURE 4. Low speed drive chain 76 is supported by lowv speed driven sprocket 74 and by low speed drive sprocket 77 which is connected to low speed drive means 78. High-speed drive cha-in 81 is supported by highspeed driven sprocket and -by high-speed drive sprocket 82 which is connected to high-speed drive means 83. 'Ihe igh-speed and low-speed drive terminology is adopted for convenience only since it is obvious that each drive could be the same speed, however, better control is possible in the preferred drive scheme shown. For slow speed operation slow speed drive means 78 is energized which rotates forward drive roll axle 72 which in turn drives over-running clutch 66 which supports and rotates low speed drive chain 65 turning sprocket 64, rear drive roll axle 62 and rear drive roll 60 at a low speed. For high speed operation, high speed drive means 83 is energized to rotate high speed drive Sprocket 82 which supports and rotates high speed drive chain 81 which turns forward drive roll high speed driven sprocket 75 turning forward drive roll axle 72 and forward drive roll 70 at a high speed. During l-ow speed operation overrunning clutch 86 disengages high speed driven sprocket 75 so that forward drive roll axle 72 can rotate at a low speed without rotating high speed driven sprocket 75. Likewise, in high speed operation overrunning clutch 66 disengages low speed driven sprocket 74 so that forward drive roll axle 72 can operate at a high speed without rotation of low speed driven sprocket 74 or rotation of rear drive roll sprocket 64.

FIGURE 5 shows a typical placement of wrappers 16 on table top 13 in schematic form for clarity. A number of wrapper sheets are placed in offset relation to one another upon table top 13 with one edge accurately aligned upon guide 14. Rear nip roll 30 is lowered to close the nip between itself and rear drive roll 6). The wrappers 10 are supported upon rear drive roll 60 through an opening in table top 13. It should be noted that the lowermost wrapper 10a is gripped between the front nip roll and the forward drive roll 70 and is free from the nip formed between rear drive roll 60 and rear nip roll 30. The next most low wrapper sheet, 10b is still within the nip formed between the rear nip roll 30 and rear drive roll 60. With this arrangement of wrapper sheets it is possible to propel the wrapper by means of front nip roll 20 and forward drive roll 70 at a high speed out of the stack of wrappers without tearing or otherwise pulling apart the wrapper sheet being propelled. If, however, the distance between the nip formed between rolls 20 and 70 and the nip formed between the rolls 30 and 60 were greater than the present distance there would be no assurance that the wrapper would be fed into the nip between rolls 20 and 70 once the sheet was free from the nip formed between rolls 30 and 60. If the rolls 20 and 70 40 were closer to the rolls 30 and 60 the wrapper sheet 10 which would be in position to feed the folder 160 would still be in the nip between rolls 30 and 60 and could not be propelled by means of rolls 20 and 70 without injuring the wrapper sheet in the process. Thus it is seen that the distance between the forward nip formed between rolls 20 and 7 0 and the rearward nip formed between the rolls 30 and 60 is critical in relation to the size of the sheet being fed. This relation can be stated as follows: The distance d, which is the distance between the forward end of wrapper 10a as it touches limit switch LS-W to stop the low speed operation and the pressure point between the rear nip roll 30 and rear drive roll 60 must be greater than the length of the sheet '10a which is designated as, d, and the length of the sheet 10a, d, must be greater than the distance between the forward rolls 20 and 70 and the rearward rolls 30 and 60, distance d. Thus d must be greater than d which in turn must be greater than d.

It should also be noted that the capacity of the wrapper feeder can be increased to any desired quantity by adding additional sets of rollers 30 and 60 in tandem at a spacing less than distance d.

Operation In general the wrapper feeder is intended to feed a wrapper sheet 10 onto a bale B in position on an automatic folder machine 100. The wrapper feeding operation is fully automatic and the wrapper sheets 10 are loaded on the feeder machine manually.

Several wrapper sheets, 10a-1W, are placed on the feeder table top 13 with one edge guided along table guide 14. The sheets are placed with their leading edges successively from bottom to top set back from the preceding sheets leading edge. The manual control valve is turned so that the air supply line 51 is connected with forward air conduit 53 and the air exhaust line 52 is connected with the rearward air'conduit 54 so that the rear nip roll frame positioning motor 40 is energized to lower rear nip roll frame 29 and rear nip roll 30 down onto the tops of the wrapper sheets 10, pressurizing the nip formed between the rear nip roll 39 and the rear drive roll 60. The low speed drive means 78 becomes energized rotating the rear drive roll 60 and the forward drive roll 70 at a low speed causing the lowermost wrapper sheet 10a to be fed into the nip formed between forward drive roll 70 and the front nip roll 20 to a point where limit switch LS-W is contacted, de-energizing low speed drive means 78, stopping the rotation of rear drive roll 60 and forward drive roll 70. As the bale B is positioned on the folder bed 101 limit switch LSA is actuated, indicating the bale ready position, energizing the high speed drive means 83 which causes the high speed rotation of forward drive roll 70 propelling the lowermost sheet 10a which has now been drawn out of the pressure nip between rear drive roll 60 and rear nip roll 30 onto the bale B. As the wrapper sheet 10a is propelled over the bale B it comes into contact with folder backstop 102 actuating limit switch LS-E which de-energizes the high-speed drive means 83. At this time the wrapper sheet 10a has passed limit switch LS-W which permits the lower speed drive means 78 to be energized causing the rear drive roll 6i) and forward drive roll 7 0 to rotate at a low speed feeding the next wrapper 10b forward between the forward drive roll 7i) and the front nip roll 20 until the limit switch LS-W' is again contacted to de-energize the low-speed drive means 78. This cycle is repeated until the supply of wrapper sheets 10 is consumed.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for feeding in succession individual sheets from a stack of sheets having their leading edge imbricated with respect to each other, said sheets having a dimension d from their leading edge to their trailing edge comprising in combination;

first means for grasping said sheets at a first position and conveying said sheets away from said first position in a forward direction normal to said leading edge of said sheets to a second position;

second means for grasping said sheets at said second position and for conveying said sheets away from said second position in said forward direction to a third position forward of said second position and for feeding said sheets to a fourth position forward of said third position;

said first and second positions being separated by a dimension d';

said stack of imbricated sheets being positioned between said first and second grasping means;

said first position being separated by a dimension d" from said third position;

said dimension d being greater than said dimension d,

and said dimension d being greater than said dimension d;

first sensing means positioned in the path of said sheets at said third position for sensing the presence of said sheets at said third position; said first sensing means being in an actuated condition responsive to sensing said sheets in said third position;

drive means operatively connected to said first and said second conveying means and responsive to said first sensing means;

said drive means yoperating at a first speed for driving said first and second conveying means for conveying said sheets from said first position to said third position responsive to said first sensing means being in an unactuated condition and at a second faster, speed for conveying said sheets forward of said third position to a fourth position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including second sensing means positioned in the path of said sheets at said fourth position for sensing the presence of said sheets at said fourth position said second sensing means ybeing in an actuated condition responsive to sensing said sheets in said fourth position third sensing means positioned in the path of an object which the sheet is to cover for sensing the presence of said object in the position to be wrapped said third sensing means being in an actuated condition responsive to sensing said object in said Wrapping position.

3. The apparatus -of claim 2 wherein said drive means operating at a second speed to drive said second conveying means for propelling said sheets from said third position to said fourth position responsive to said first and third sensing means being in an actuated condition and said second sensing means being in an unactuated condition.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said drive means comprises a low-speed drive means and a high-speed drive means said low-speed drive means being operatively connected to said first and said second conveying means for said first-speed operation said high-speed drive means being operatively disconnected from said second conveying means for said first-speed operation said high-speed drive means being operatively connected to said second conveying means and operatively disconnected from said rst conveying means for said second-speed operation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1951 Mursch 271-71 M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Examiner.

R. A. SCHACHER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING IN SUCCESSION INDIVIDUAL SHEETS FROM A STACK OF SHEETS HAVING THEIR LEADING EDGE IMBRICATED WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER, SAID SHEETS HAVING A DIMENSION D FROM THEIR LEADING EDGE TO THEIR TRAILING EDGE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION; FIRST MEANS FOR GRASPING SAID SHEETS AT A FIRST POSITION AND CONVEYING SAID SHEETS AWAY FROM SAID FIRST POSITION IN A FORWARD DIRECTION NORMAL TO SAID LEADING EDGE OF SAID SHEETS TO A SECOND POSITION; SECOND MEANS FOR GRASPING SAID SHEETS AT SAID SECOND POSITION AND FOR CONVEYING SAID SHEETS AWAY FROM SAID SECOND POSITION IN SAID FORWARD DIRECTION TO A THIRD POSITION FORWARD OF SAID SECOND POSITION AND FOR FEEDING SAID SHEETS TO A FOURTH POSITION FORWARD OF SAID THIRD POSITION; SAID FIRST AND SECOND POSITIONS BEING SEPARATED BY A DIMENISON D''; SAID STACK OF IMBRICATED SHEETS BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND GRASPING MEANS; SAID FIRST POSITION BEING SEPARATED BY A DIMENSION D" FROM SAID THIRD POSITION; SAID DIMENSION D" BEING GREATER THAN SAID DIMENSION D, AND SAID DIMENSION D BEING GREATER THAN SAID DIMENSION D''; FIRST SENSING MEANS POSITIONED IN THE PATH OF SAID SHEETS AT SAID THIRD POSITION FOR SENSING THE PRESENCE OF SAID SHEETS AT SAID THIRD POSITION; SAID FIRST TO SENSING SAID SHEETS IN SAID THIRD POSITION; RESPONSIVE TO SENSING SAID SHEETS IN SAID THIRD POSITION; DRIVE MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST AND SAID SECOND CONVEYING MEANS AND RESPONSIVE TO SAID FIRST SENSING MEANS; SAID DRIVE MEANS OPERATING AT A FIRST SPEED FOR DRIVING SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONVEYING MEANS FOR CONVEYING SAID SHEETS FROM SAID FIRST POSITION TO SAID THIRD POSITION RESPONSIVE TO SAID FIRST SENSING MEANS BEING IN AN UNACTUATED CONDITION AND AT SECOND FASTER SPEED FOR CONVEYING SAID SHEETS FORWARD OF SAID THIRD POSITION TO A FOURTH POSITION. 